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# Basics 💡

prePO is a decentralized trading platform allowing anyone, anywhere to speculate on the valuation of any pre-IPO company or pre-token project.

Our mission is to democratize pre-public equity - transforming a world of financial exclusion into a world of permissionless access.

## Why prePO?

We currently live in a society of financial exclusion.

Private companies raise funds...<br />in **limited time windows**<br />in **limited amounts**<br />for a **limited number of investors**.

*All investors* miss out on opportunities due to there being limited places on a cap table.

Retail investors especially are excluded from most early investment opportunities.

<figure>
  <img alt="finantial exclusion" src={useBaseUrl("/img/maccas.png")} />
  <figcaption>Before prePO, retail investors missed out entirely.</figcaption>
</figure>

With prePO (short for 'pre-IPO'), an unlimited number of new seats can be created around the cap table - unlocking access for all.

## Key Features of the prePO Protocol

### Go Long or Short on Any Pre-Public Asset

[Traders](/concepts/actors#traders) will be able to take synthetic positions on pre-IPO companies such as SpaceX, Stripe, Gemini, and ByteDance; pre-token projects such as dYdX, Zapper, and OpenSea; and in the long-term, even real estate!

### Neutral Liquidity Provision

[Liquidity Providers (LPs)](/concepts/actors#liquidity-providers) on prePO don't have to take a long or short position, and they face no liquidation risk. 

LP positions are [Risk Minimised](/concepts/risk-minimisation). With the right market parameters, LPs face **single-digit maximum loss**, which is more than compensated for with [3 Layers of Rewards](/concepts/rewards).

### No Intermediaries

prePO operates on secure decentralized code that can't be tampered with.

This guarantees that users will always have full control of their assets, and can never be forcibly exited from their positions or prevented from trading.

By nature of being decentralized, there is no paperwork involved either (i.e. no risk of your personal information being leaked), and the overhead costs of the traditional world are removed, which translates to lower fees for traders.

### High Composability

prePO synthetic assets and LP positions are standard ERC20 and ERC721 tokens, meaning new utility can be unlocked as our assets integrate with the rest of the DeFi ecosystem - think indexes, loan collateral, and multi-layered staking rewards.

### Community Driven

prePO will be governed by the [prePO Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO)](/governance), with decisions driven by a global community of [PPO token stakers ('pregens')](/concepts/actors#pregens).
